Is Stephen Harper Slowly Cracking Up?

In one of my last posts I wrote about how Stephen Harper had been hit by a perfect storm of bad news. 

Which had left him badly shaken up, clinging to his sanity with both hands, and screaming with frustration.

And at a news conference yesterday that was only too apparent. For all the pancake makeup and mascara in the world couldn't conceal the fear in his cold dead eyes.

Or as Chantale Hebert writes, make him look more like a man who is just glad he made it to the weekend. 

Set aside Tuesday’s NDP’s election victory in the Conservative heartland of Alberta and Stephen Harper’s ruling party still had a terrible week.

All week, partisan overkill made the government look both ugly and inept. It is hard to think of a more self-defeating combination for a party that is about to solicit a fourth mandate.

The wheels seem to be coming off the Con bus. The reckless decision to endanger the lives of our soldiers in Iraq for the sake of a cheap photo-op is turning into a neverending nightmare... 



Another video showing the faces of Canadian military personnel has surfaced on the prime minister's website, just days after his office was forced to remove two similar videos that potentially endangered soldiers' lives.

His attempt to pose as a Great Warrior Leader has failed. His massive propaganda machine is out of control. The young fanatics in the PMO don't know what they're doing.

The trial of Mike Duffy is turning into the trial of the Con regime.

Slowly but inexorably, the disgraced senator’s trial continues to turn into a trial by proxy of the ethical culture that prevails at the highest levels of the current government.

Omar Khadr's news conference has revealed that the real monster is not Omar, it's Harper...



As the former Guantanamo detainee holds his first scrum, it becomes apparent why Harper’s government was so adamant that he not be allowed to speak to the media. It was easier to paint Khadr as an unredeemable terrorist in the abstract than it will be now that most Canadians have the opportunity to hear from the actual person.

And as Andrew Coyne points out, what other government could do so many things WRONG in just 24 hours?

If one were to draw up an indictment of this government’s approach to politics and the public purpose, one might mention its wholesale contempt for Parliament, its disdain for the Charter of Rights and the courts’ role in upholding it, its penchant for secrecy, its chronic deceitfulness, its deepening ethical problems, its insistence on taking, at all times, the lowest, crudest path to its ends, its relentless politicization of everything.  

But you’d think you would need to look back over its record over several years to find examples. You wouldn’t think to see them all spread before you in the course of a single day.

I mean that's one for the Guinness Book of Fascists eh?

And the best news?  Despite all the millions Harper has spent promoting his porky budget, and himself, his polls are STILL going nowhere.

Despite a heavily a heavily publicized Harper government budget, the Liberals appear to be closing the gap and are now effectively tied with the Conservatives, who are now at 30.3 points and have seen a gentle erosion in their support since their peak of 35 points in early February. The Liberals are at 29.6 per cent and the NDP are at 24.2.

Conservative fortunes have stalled, virtually eliminating any chance of an early election call. The NDP, meanwhile, have been consistently polling around 23-24 points for several weeks now, territory that was relatively foreign to them just a few short months ago. 

Even some seniors are abandoning him:

Seniors, who responded well to the April 21st budget, have nestled back into their old patterns and the commanding lead enjoyed by the Conservatives last week has narrowed from 18 points to just seven.

He's heading in the wrong direction...



So is the economy. 

Nearly 20,000 jobs disappeared across the Canadian economy in April, the biggest drop in eight months, even though the unemployment rate remained at 6.8 per cent as many people stopped looking work.

And when you add it all up, it explains why Stephen Harper is suddenly looking so desperate.

The strain is just too much.

And he is going CRAZY...



You know, we've gone through some dark times in the last few months, when it seemed that Stephen Harper could do no wrong.

But now EVERYTHING is going wrong for him and his Cons.

And I think it's safe to say that the wind is now in OUR sails...



In fact, I'm going to test that theory out today.

Because that's the other bit of good news eh?

We also made it to the weekend. 

Have a great one everybody !!!

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